Cash-strapped Air India losing Rs 10 crore daily

New Delhi, Mar 29: Cash-strapped airlines, Air India is making Rs 10 crore operational loss daily, said the government.

"The total loss of Air India every day on its operation is approximately Rs 10 crore," said Civil Aviation minister Ajit Singh.

"During the last three years, Air India has received Rs 114.35 crore from the Ministry of Defence, Rs 212 crore from Prime Minister's Office and Rs 112.98 crore from Ministry of External Affairs," Singh said.

Meanwhile, the employees of Air India have threatened to go on a strike from Apr 2 over the non-payment of salaries to them for the past five months.

"We are firm on our decision to go ahead with the strike from Apr 2, for which we have given notice months ago. We will reverse our decision only if our dues are cleared before Apr 1. We don't believe in any of verbal assurances from this management," a senior Indian Pilots Guild official said.

Pilots of the ailing airlines also appealed to the management to stop paying the oil companies and pay the employees instead.

"We will defer our strike plan only if the management gives us a written commitment towards clearing our dues," said a IPG captain.